How To Get Healthy and Get Pregnant

Why am I not pregnant yet? How do I chart my body temperature? What foods should I be eating? How do I know if I'm ovulating? When is the best time to do the baby dance? These are all the questions swimming in your head if you're a woman who is trying to get pregnant. And let's face it, the internet is a crowded place for fertility information. It can be overwhelming and confusing. You don't have to sort through all of it on your own. Adrienne Wei, Acupuncturist and Integrative Fertility Guru with a background in Traditional Chinese Medicine, is here to help. Her number one passion is to help women get pregnant and become the mother they are meant to be. Discover why thousands of women on the Trying-To-Conceive journey have turned to Adrienne to learn about her trademarked Practically Fertile™ Methodology.

I’m so excited for 2018 because there are just so many things to look forward to.

This episode is a facebook live interview that I conducted with Shannon Schultz-Wooten. Many of you are familiar with Shannon. She is a life coach with a speciality in helping others with fertility challengesmove the blocks out of the way that are preventing them from moving forward and achieving future goals. She is also the author of“Infertility sucks, you don’t.”

Shannon was my guest for episode #29 where we talked about how the fertility journey has so many similarities with the five stages of grief. I thought the facebook live interview I did with Shannon would be the perfect episode to round out the year 2017. As we head into 2018 and as many of you reflect on the year 2017, you might be feeling a bit down on yourself if you didn’t get pregnant this year. You may feel like a failure. I don’t want you to head into 2018 with this type of mindset.

As mentioned before, Shannon is known for taking the 5 stages of grief and applying that to the TTC process. In this interview, Shannon and Ispecifically discuss the final stage which is acceptance.

Here are some of what we discussed:

What it means to accept your situation and/or yourself and how it’s the beginning of a world of possibilities and opportunities.

Why acceptance is not failure.

Why our self-worth is not dependent on our ability to have children.

Why you shouldn't rush the process to get to acceptance.

My purpose with this episode is to let you know there is light at the end of the tunnel whether or not pregnancy is the outcome. When you’ve been trying to conceive for a while, it seem like it’s never going to happen. But I want you to trust yourself, trust the process, and know that you’re going to be OK no matter what happens.

Today’s episode is part 2 of How to overcome limiting beliefs that are preventing you from pregnancy.

To quickly review, limiting beliefsare show stoppers. They stop us in our tracks and prevent us from moving forward. Just by having these beliefs, we do not think, do or say the things that the beliefs prevent us from thinking, doing or saying and we totally sabotage ourselves.

Limiting beliefs can be “I am not very good at this,” “this is too hard,” “I can never do this,” “I’m never going to get pregnant,” “ I’m that annoying person,” “people are going to laugh at me.”

And the ways we come up with these limiting beliefs is through life experiences, what others have said, our fears, and our assumptions that we know what others will do, think or say .

So in today’s episode, we’re going to talk about how to actually overcome limiting beliefs whatever they might be.

We probably all have said something similar. These are what we call limiting beliefs.

Limiting beliefs are show stoppers. They stop us in our tracks and prevent us from moving forward. Just by having these beliefs, we do not think, do or say the things that the beliefs prevent us from thinking, doing or saying. And we end up totally sabotage ourselves.

Having a fertile mindset is as important as having a fertile cycle and a fertile lifestyle.

Today's episode is part 1 of a two part series on how to overcome limiting beliefs that are preventing you from getting pregnant. We learn what limiting beliefs are and where they comes from.

Today, I actually want to revisit an old topic that we’ve talked about a lot this past year. And that is gut health.

I want to revisit gut health because since episode 3 aired, the responses and questions have been overwhelming because it’s a new way of looking at nutrition, and how specifically it affects fertility.

In the US, salads are the go to "health" foods. And most people grew up drinking milk. So cutting out dairy and ditching the smoothies and salads for most people, presents a huge lifestyle change.

Through working with clients and talking to women in our private Facebook group, I see three main obstacles that people are encountering when they make this shift to no raw foods and no dairy.

What if you’ve never had a natural cycle for almost 10 years? What if you were bouncing around from doctor to doctor looking for answers and the best advice they can give is to take medicine?

Meet Susie...

This is the incredible story of Susie who was diagnosed with hypothalamic amenorrhea and PCOS. She went from feeling hopeless to getting pregnant.

You’ll hear from her talk about:

Her journey to restart her cycle three years after coming off the birth control pill

What finally made a difference for her

How she overcame emotional challenges of seeing others get pregnant and wondering it it was ever going to be her

I hope Susie’s story will leave you feeling a bit more inspired, a bit more hopeful knowing that you too can overcome your obstacles because there is no such thing as infertility.

Susie mentioned working with me 1-on-1, but you also have the option to join the Practically Fertile Club, a membership site where you can get courses, workshops advice and support to help you get pregnant.

I’m looking for Founding Members now and Founding Members enjoy a lifetime rate that never changes no matter what. To get on my waitlist please visitadriennewei.com/memberswaitlist.

I always talk about how Chinese medicine is really different than Western medicine. Because one medical system looks for the root cause of diseases and the other is about putting out fire and treating the symptom. But yet, these two medical systems have a lot of similarities.

I mentioned last week that I really want to break down the information into bite sized pieces so it’s easier to understand and grasp the concepts. Especially when it comes to Chinese medicine.

To many of you it’s a fairly new way of looking at the human body. In today’s episode, I’m going to start with the very, very basic and talk about the core principle of Chinese medicine and its approach to wellness, which is to always strive for balance.

The Two-Week-Wait is the time between ovulation and when you test for pregnancy.

You’ve done everything you could up until this point.

You tracked ovulation and you did the baby dance and now….you wait.

You find yourself “symptom checking.”

Ohhhh, is that an implantation cramp?

Do I feel slight nausea?

Did my boobs get bigger?

You also can’t help it but hop onto fertility blogs and forums to see if anyone else out there is feeling the same way.

Does any of this sound familiar to you?

The two weeks wait feels like an eternity, it feels like two years instead of two weeks. This anguish and anxiety comes from the unknown and the fact that you’ve done everything you could up to this point, and there’s little you can do now except just waiting and waiting.

Many people will tell you don’t stress...yeah right. That’s the worst advice ever. It’s important for you to understand that you’re not a crazy person, you’re not over-analyzing, what you’re feeling is completely normal. So why fight it? Telling yourself not to think about it is going to cause more anxiety and stress.

I’ve been through thousands of 2WWs with patients and clients.

While what’s done is done and you can’t change your egg quality at this time, there are things you can do to ease the anxiety and stay positive during this time.

But in this episode, I want to share with you my best tips on how to boost your chances of implantation while maintaining your sanity and staying positive.

I received a personal message yesterday after a long day at work. And it’s my favorite type of message - a pregnancy success story.

One of my listeners wanted to let me know that she has been following me for a few months and she incorporated my diet advice as part her daily routine. She is now pregnant and planning her gender reveal party.

It was so amazing to receive this message. First, she took the time out of her day to write me a note, and secondly, I’m so happy that I was able to make a difference on her journey.

For many of you, hearing about success stories is a double edged sword. It can certain give you a ray of hope, that “if she can do it, I can too.” But it can also cause the comparison blues

“Why is it so easy for her, but not me?”

Sure the FOMO Syndrome might be partly to blame here. We see Facebook and Instagram posts of cute pregnancy selfies, baby bump pictures and baby nursery decor. It’s hard not to feel like we’re missing out on all of those things.

But today, I want to actually address your burning questions “why her, not me.” Yes, there is a very real explanation why it maybe easy for some but others to get pregnant. At the end of this episode, you’re going to feel a whole lot better because you can actually do something about it.

Today’s episode is going to be on FOMO, have you ever heard of that word? FOMO, fear of missing out. That grass is always greener feeling, and there’s always something better out there.

Have you ever had this uneasy and anxious feeling that everyone else’s life is better than yours? Are you the type of read at least 10 reviews before buying a toaster just to make sure that there’s nothing better than this one toaster you’re thinking about getting?

Or how about this, you’ve heard about this big party, and you’re not really sure if you want to go but at the same time you’re thinking well what it’s super fun, you don’t want to miss out, but you really would rather stay home and watch a movie.

FOMO actually made it into the Oxford dictionary in 2013, and by definition it meanthe uneasy and sometimes all-consuming feeling that you’re missing out – that your peers are doing, in the know about, or in possession of more or something better than you.

Suffering from FOMO has real consequences. My goal for this episode is to open up the dialogue and conversation about FOMO because I feel like most of us who suffer from FOMO don't realize that it's alive and well.

So we're going to talk about how to avoid FOMO so we can all make better decisions and feel good about those decisions.

In Chinese medicine we talk about energy flow and how important it is for your energy to flow properly. If it gets stuck, you’ll have problems. But what about the energy flow of your environment?

What if you’re living in a super cluttered space, what if you’re working with a toxic person every day? Have you ever wondered why some plants keep dying in certain places, why you walk into a room and the air just seems stuffy?

You’re not crazy, it’s not in your head. It’s all about Feng Shui.

If you have heard of feng shui before you kinda know a little bit about what I’m talking about. You might start thinking arrange furniture a certain way, placing good luck charm in certain place, and using certain colors to bring in good energy and good luck. If this is the first time you’ve heard the words feng shui, you are not alone.

Feng shui is an art and science. It’s more than just energy placement, it’s about creating a harmonious environment where your health, your relationship, your finances will all flourish.

I want to properly introduce our guest for today’s episode. Her name is Kelly Jones. She is a Feng Shui expert, healer, author and speaker. Kelly is going to debunk some myths around Feng Shui and then give you some action items so that you can harmonize the energy around you to boost your fertility.

In this episode, we’re going to talk about how to know if you’re ready for medical intervention.

I love the fact that reproductive medicine has advanced so much now because 30 years ago, IVF wasn’t even an option. And now many women are able to get pregnant and become mothers because of it.

But I think because IUI or IVF is a readily available option, many people are jumping into these procedures pre-maturely, at least in my opinion.

I totally get it, it’s so disheartening to get that big fat negative every single month, and when everyone around you is getting pregnant except you, of course if there’s an easier way, why not?

But today I want to specifically talk to you about why even if you’re considering IUI, IVF you need to make sure that your body is ready because guess what, IVF is only a 46% success rate.

I’m going to talk about the steps you need to take before you even think about IUI or IVF. And for some of you who are on the fence about IUI or IVF, this episode is going to also help you make the decision.

So, you have this life plan that you’ve mapped out that by a certain age, you’ll be married and have two kids, a dog, and a cat, maybe a hamster. You then meet the right guy and you thought your plan would start to unfold like it should. When that doesn’t happen, you realize that it wasn’t as easy as you thought it was going to be.

After years of searching for answers, you are handed a diagnosis of infertility. Your whole world is now turned upside down, your plan seems impossible to execute. Where do you go from here? What will happen if you try everything and pregnancy is still impossible? Who would you then become? Would you still be you? Would you feel like a failure? These are all the little voices inside of you that are nagging you constantly.

I want you to meet Shannon Wooten, my guest for today’s show. Shannon is an author, speaker and life coach. Her passion is to help women struggling to conceive to shift their mindset and find their self-value amidst a diagnosis such as infertility that makes you question who you are, what value you bring to the world now that you’ve been diagnosed with infertility, and how you can go on living in a reality that is not what you thought it would be.

Now, full disclosure I’ve known Shannon for quite some time. She is a patient of mine at Inner Peace Acupuncture. Through helping her on her journey, we’ve become close friends and business mastermind buddies. She is definitely a success story, but not in the way most of you think of success.

Just to warn you ahead of time, Shannon doesn’t hold anything back, she tells it like it is so there maybe some words that are inappropriate for young children, so I suggest that if you like to listen to my podcast in the car, please either put ear muff on your little ones or listen to it with your headphones plugged in.

And also I want to make it very clear that Shannon is not telling you to stop trying, nor is she saying that you don’t need a baby to be happy. On the contrary she is saying try your hearts out, but just don’t lose yourself in the process because you deserve to be happy, you are not defined by your diagnosis.

So often, we make up stories for ourselves because we all hate to fail and hate to be disappointed. But the stories trap us and prevents us from taking action.

In today's episode (a shorter one than usual,) I talk about the one question you should be asking yourself when you feel defeated and unmotivated, and finding yourself derailed. This question is something that people don't think about but it's exactly this questions that's going to set you up for success when times get tough.

I've been working hard on Practically Fertile, my online fertility-boosting program. I have an entire module dedicated to emotional well-being in what I call the Happiness Formula. I give you techniques on how to overcome some challenges such as self-sabotaging and repeated negative behavior patterns as part of the formula. I’m not a psychotherapist so my techniques are based on taking action to reprogram and reframe your way of thinking.

But, I’ve been noticing that over and over again in my practice and the private facebook group, that many people are struggling with things such as, how to say no to a baby shower, how to handle pregnancy announcements, how to create you own support system, how to deal with people who tell you “relax and it’ll happen,” How to deal with negativity from others without spiraling into a depression with them, and how to deal with all the emotions that come after a miscarriage.

And I thought these are real struggles people have, many people get into a funk or a downward spiral and either cant get themselves out of it, or don’t know how. There are some real and raw emotions that come with infertility and it’s hard to sort through them all. So the reprogram and reframe techniques might not work because sometimes you need to deal with the emotions that come up

I knew I needed some extra help. So I thought as an added bonus, I would interview my good friend, and fertility counselor Johanna Hyland, LCSW to add an extra layer, to give another perspective and actionable tips to help people overcome these emotional challenges.

Johanna is an expert in the field of fertility counseling and she has received extra training to incorporate mindfulness techniques into her practice.

We had an amazing interview and it was one of the best I’ve ever done. And after the recording, I just thought the information was too good not to share with my listeners. We really dug in deep and she gave such valuable tips. So I thought I would take a portion of my interview with her and share it on the podcast. I’m not going to share the entire interview because I want to be fair to my future paying clients but I think you’re still going to get so much value and insights from what I’ve shared.

So everyone knows that you must have a period in order to get pregnant. But what about those who suffer from Hypothalamic Amenorrhea or HA?

Hypothalamic amenorrhea is a condition where a period is absent for longer than 6 months and usually caused by stress, under-eating, over-exercising, etc. Logan suffered from HA after the birth of her second child, but she had this incredible drive and determination to get her health back on track.

You'll find in this interview:

How Logan discovered that she may have HA

The one thing that ultimately made a difference for her and helped her conceive

Her mindset through the TTC journey and how she found support, came to terms with her condition, and took action.

A glimpse into her healthy lifestyle that she credits with her success, and her obsession with essential oils and Beautycounter, which is a non-toxic skincare brand.